The Step That Became a Start
by Lady Sabine of Macayhill
Summary: A one-shot of Fianola's thoughts as she is in vigil prior to her Ordeal, focusing primarily on how her knight-mistress, Keladry of Mindelan, helped her know for sure that she wanted to try for her shield and the results of that decision. Inspired and based partly on the song "One of Us" by Heather Dale.


Author's note: I was listening to the song "One of Us" by Heather Dale the other day, and it made me think of Keladry of Mindelan and the three girls she met after her second joust with Lord Wyldon of Cavall. The girls, two of them sisters, all expressed a wish to become knights and got Kel's advice on what they needed to do in preparation for trying for their shield. The blonde girl, Yvenne, was stated as coming across as they type that jumped around from good idea to idea, but the sisters appeared to be serious about it, and said that their mother had said that if they still wanted to, they could try the next year. So I have decided to write a one-shot, told from the older sister Fianola's point of view, partly based on the song. I would write an entire fic about sisters' time as pages and squires, but I'm busy with the Harry Potter fics I'm writing and don't have the time to devote to another one, which is why this is a one-shot.

Disclaimer: The Tortall universe belongs to the fantastic author Tamora Pierce. I am merely playing in it and claim no ownership of anything other than copies of her books.

Fianola sat in the chapel, on the bench in front of the Chamber of Ordeal. Her knight mistress, Lady Knight Keladry of Mindelan, and Sir Merric of Hollyrose, a friend of Kel's, had finished giving her the traditional instruction on the code of chivalry, and now she sat for her vigil before entering the Chamber. As Fianola thought about the duty of knights and her life as she meditated, her thoughts turned to the first time she had met her knight mistress.

At the time, Lady Kel had been a squire, and that afternoon, she was jousting against Lord Wyldon of Cavall, who had been the training master before he resigned and the current one, Lord Padraig haMinch, had taken over. According to Fianola's father, Lord Wyldon unseated everyone he jousted against, but that day, Lady Kel had managed to stay on her horse, though she had still lost the joust. Some time after she had gone to her tent to recover, Fianola, her younger sister, and her sister's friend Yvenne had sought her out.

Lady Kel was still asleep, and the three girls were discussing in hushed voices about the joust and if they should go, when she woke up. After bringing her some water and helping her get dressed, they had explained that they wished to try for their shields as well and asked Lady Kel for advice. It had all been useful, and she had even assured Fianola that her age, which was a couple of years older than the traditional first-years pages, didn't matter, stating that her (Lady Kel) best friend, Nealan of Queenscove, had started at fifteen and was now squire to Alanna the Lioness. After that, the three girls had been kindly dismissed, as Lady Kel needed to go eat.

That day had been something of a turning point for Fianola, and she suspected the same for her sister as well. Yvenne, on the other hand, while she had energy and eagerness, was somewhat flightly and had the habit of jumping around from idea to idea. By the following year, she had changed her mind about becoming a knight and decided that she had wanted to join the Rider's instead. That hadn't lasted either, but she had eventually joined the Queen's Royal Ladies, at which point she had settled down.

In any case, Fianola had treasured the day she met Lady Kel. At the time, she was just the slightest bit uncertain of actually following through with trying for her shield. She knew that she wanted to do something with her life that involved the fighting arts, since she wasn't interested in becoming a traditional lady, but she also knew that becoming a knight was hard and difficult. However, seeing Lady Kel out on the jousting field, facing Lord Wyldon of Cavall and actually staying on her horse, changed things. Here was an older girl, squire to Lord Sir Raoul of Malorie's Peak and Goldenlake, without any magical Gift like the Lioness did, proving herself to be just as good or better as any other knight or squire. Yes, Lady Kel was rather tall for a girl, but there were several male knights that were her size or taller, that she'd won against before, so it wasn't as if she had an advantage there either.

Meeting her after and getting her advice and assurance that age didn't matter had cemented Fianola's determination to try for her shield, and the following year, she and her sister had gone to Corus for training. As the Lioness had the Gift and there would still be rumors that she could use it to help a girl succeed, despite Lady Kel's example, she couldn't have any contact with the two sisters, beyond the rare public meetings, the same as it had been for Lady Kel. As Lady Kel didn't have the Gift, however, she was free to meet with them without any rumors that she magicked them to succeed.

Of course, due to the Scanran war and its aftermath, she was unable to see them at all the first year, though she had sent them each a letter full of advice and encouragement at Midwinter, along with a box containing exercise balls. The following year, however, the war had ended, thanks in part to Lady Kel and her friends, and so she was able to visit during their second Midwinter. She had more advice and the gift of a lucky Yamani porcelain cat each and some griffon feathers. She had laughed when the two had told her about the anonymous and very useful (not to mention expensive) gifts they had received so far, and explained that the same thing had happened to her during her years of training. After she had been knighted, the mysterious benefactor had revealed herself to be Alanna the Lioness, who had been upset at not being able to openly help her and decided to help in this way instead.

Lady Kel continued to visit whenever she could, always full of advice and stories of her time as a page, though she couldn't provide the kind of gifts that the Lioness did, since her purse wasn't as extensive. She didn't single the two out, however, for she was the type of person willing to help anyone, and offered advice and fighting tips to all the pages receptive to her. Then the two sisters had become squires, and Lady Kel had taken Fianola on as squire, while her best friend Sir Neal of Queenscove had taken on Fianola's sister. Unfortunately, while Sir Neal wasn't a difficult knight master, he wasn't always the most attentive of ones, so Lady Kel had ended up mentoring his squire as well some of the time, as the two friends liked to travel and work together.

Now it was the Midwinter holidays of the fourth year as squire, and time for the Ordeal to see if they were fit to become knights. Fianola's name had been drawn for tonight, with her sister to follow tomorrow. If they passed the Ordeal, they would become the second and third lady knights of Tortall after Alanna the Lioness. Fianola was almost certain that she would succeed, and a vision of her fighting against Lady Kel's side, similar to the time they had fought off bandits attacking New Hope, but in a war situation, appeared in her mind. She didn't know if such a vision would ever come true, since she wasn't a Seer, but the idea made her smile. It had been an honor to be mentored by her idol, and it would even better to fight alongside her as an equal. And perhaps one day, another noble girl would be inspired by Fianola or her sister to try for her shield, and become a squire to one of them.


End file.
